A Bargain

 

In 1971 I moved to Detroit to be near my sweetie, Kathy Papastavro.  I got a job at Jim Robbins Seat Belt Company making … you guessed it.  My brother-in-law was a foreman and he got me the job.  I worked assembly line, maintenance, plating, stamp pressing, parts tumbling, well, you name it.  There was an old maintenance man who worked in the machine shop.  Lenard D. was good with his hands, and I learned a lot from him.  Leonard had a brother-in-law who raced snowmobiles.  Leonard tweaked the engines and drive train to give his brother-in-law’s machine a little more power.  I spent many lunches talking about life with Leonard.  Leonard had a saying, “I married a wife.  Everything else is for sale.”  Of course, Leonard would put a pretty high price on an item that he liked, but he would sell it … if the price was right.  Solomon must have known someone like Leonard.  Solomon said in Proverbs 20:14, “It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth.”  The buyer and seller haggle over an item.  The buyer says, “This old thing is a piece of junk.”  But the seller says, “It’s the best that’s ever been made.”  The buyer undercuts the price and the seller overprices the item.  And then the negotiations begin.  I have been part of such proceedings in markets in Mexico, Venezuela, Romania and Ukraine.  It can be fun.  Hey, in 1956 I made the best deal ever!  I exchanged my dirty rotten sins for eternal life in heaven.  And Jesus Christ willingly let me seal the bargain!  Thank you, Jesus for loving me!